Unprofitable Servants ?

INTRODUCTION-- In my experience, this congregation has one of the most erratic patterns of attendance I have ever observed.

1. Nearly every congregation has members who do not attend some services.
   
   1. Many have a few that attend only the Sunday morning worship.
      
   2. Many have members who have obligated themselves to work on the Lord's Day, and therefore miss some meetings.
      
   3. It is common to see a drop in numbers on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening (although I have worked with congregations that have had more at midweek services than on Sunday morning).
      
2. However, this congregation has the worst pattern I have experienced.
   
   1. I have agonized many times over this problem, and have preached on it earnestly, only to see the problem continue, or become even worse.
      
   2. I sent mailings for a season on this subject, and thought for a while that they made some difference, but seemingly they did not.
      
3. My duty as an evangelist, however, is to imitate the effort of the Apostle Paul, who said, "I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house." (Acts 20:20)
   
   1. I have certainly taught on the subject of attendance publicly.
      
   2. Perhaps my failing is that I have not done as much "house to house."
      
   3. In spite of past failures, I feel compelled to address the subject again.
      

LESSON--

1. I would hope that attention to small things, like attendance at services designed to teach and build you up the faith, would be done by Christians out of a sense of love for the Lord, but perhaps it should begin with DUTY.
   
   1. I have already spoken of my personal duty to teach.
      
   2. What is your duty, as a servant (doulos, bond-servant) of your master? Luke 17:7-10 "But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and sit down to meat; 8 and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9 Doth he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded? 10 Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do."
      
      1. Who are the servants of this parable?
         
         1. The Apostles and prophets of the New Testament often referred to themselves as servants or slaves of Christ, bound in duty to Him.
            
         2. Yet, all who have surrendered their will to God have become his slaves. 1 Peter 2:15-16 "For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondser-vants of God."
            
         3. Does our problem arise from not surrendering our will to His?
            
      2. The servants in this passage did their duty, obeyed every command, and performed every required service, but were still unprofitable!
         
         1. What would have made them profitable? Going beyond duty?
            
         2. Winners of medals in war are the ones who have exceeded duty.
            
         3. If slaves who do their duty are unprofitable, what could describe the value of a slave who shirked his duty.
            
2. The question is often raised, however...."Is attendance at services a duty?"
   
   1. In the Law of Moses, every male was required to appear at the Temple three times in a year at the "set feasts." Exodus 23:14-17 "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear before me empty: 16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field: and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord Jehovah."
      
      1. This may not appear to be a burdensome command (since it only required attendance 3 times in a year), but it must be remembered that a long journey was required for many. (The Eunuch of Acts 8 came all the way from Ethiopia...1500 miles).
         
      2. The command gives no exemptions. ALL males were commanded!
         
   2. This law of Moses formed part of the COVENANT they had with God. Exodus 34:23-27 "Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before Jehovah thy God three times in the year ...... ......27 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel."
      
      1. Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6
         
      2. Covenant breakers are classified in the New Testament with people who have refused to have God in their knowledge, murderers, haters of God, and without natural affection (all worthy of death). Romans 1:28-32
         
      3. Is Hebrews 10:24-25 a part of the New Covenant?
         
   3. The appearance of ALL the males at the Temple is called a duty, when practiced by the Israelites. 2 Chronicles 8:12-13 "Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch, 13 even as the duty of every day required, offering accord-ing to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles."
      
3. Does DUTY come first, or COMMITMENT?
   
   1. The word DUTY, comes from the Greek word ofeilw, meaning a DEBT, or an OBLIGATION.
      
      1. Paul used it regarding his duty to the Lost. Romans 1:14 "I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish."
         
      2. The Gentile Christians were debtors to the Jews, and fulfilled their duty to them with aid. Romans 15:26-27 "For it hath been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints that are at Jerusalem. Yea, it hath been their good pleasure; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to minister unto them in carnal things."
         
   2. DEBT comes from either a feeling of obligation, like Paul to the lost, or from a feeling of repayment, like the Gentile Christians felt. Which do we feel, if any, regarding our duty to be edified in the assemblies?

APPLICATION--

1. The work of evangelist, such as I am, is stated, in part, in Ephesians 4:11-16. "And (Christ) gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: 13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ; 16 from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love."
   
2. As an evangelist serving this congregation, I would like to be able to fulfil this duty to you.
   
   1. You sacrifice to support me in this work.
      
   2. Part of my duty is to fulfil what Ephesians 4 tells me to do.
      
   3. If you are not here, I cannot fulfil my duty to you.
      
   4. You do not support me to serve only those saints in attendance, but you!

C. Again, I have done my duty....will you do yours?